Coal washing or separating machine



(No Model.) ,2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. STUTZ.

GOAL WASHING OR SEPARATING MACHINE. No. 324,$4 1 Patented Aug. 11, 1885.

I n 1, I 2 3% mafia (No Model.)

, 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. s. STUTZ.

' COAL WASHING OR SEPARATING MACHINE. No. 324,341.

N. PETERS. Phnlwulhograplwf. Washington. D. c,

improvements the following isa specification.

.is preferably divided into two or more sepa- UNITED STATES PATENT OFrIciE-i.

SEBASTIAN STUTZ, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

COAL WASHING OR SEPARATlN Gl MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,341, dated August 11, 1885,

Application filed December 10,1884.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SEBASTIAN STUTZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Goal Washing or Separating Machines, of which In the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, Figure 1, Shcet 1, is a vertical transverse section through a coalwashing machine embodying my invention, at the line 00 x of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section'through the same at the line y y of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, atransverse section, on an enlarged, scale, through the deliverybridge and upper portion of the coal-delivery compartment; Fig. 4, Sheet 2,a vertical trans verse section through the elevator compartment; Fig. 5, a vertical longitudinal section through the same, and Fig. 6 a vertical central section through the piston, piston-rod guide, stuffing-box and buffer.

My present invention relates to coal-washing machines of the class which is exemplified in Letters Patent of the United States No. 188,691, granted and issued to me March 20, 1877, and reissued December 30, 1879, No. 9,011, and its object is to economise and facilitate the construction and operation of the machine by the provision of improved means for supporting the separator-box, with the capacity of ready access thereto, relieving the machine from shocks due to the impact of the piston, and guiding and regulating the length of stroke of the latter, and continuously removing the separated impurities without liability to waste by the escape of coal therewith.

The improvements claimed are hereinafter fully set forth.

In the practice of my invention I provide, as in my prior construction, a separator box or chest, 1, of substantially rectangular horizontal and verticallongitudinal section,,which rate compartments, each fitted with the propor appliances to constitute a complete separating-machine independently of the others, all being, for convenience of operation within a desired degree of capacity, combined in a single structure. The three compartments (No model.)

illustrated in the present instance, and the mechanism applied thereto, being similar in construction and operation, descriptive reference need be made herein to one compartment only, the description thereof being equally applicable to any of the three in the series.

Each of the compartments of the separating-box is divided by a curved partition, 3, into an upper separating or sieve chamber, 4, and a lower dead-water or sediment chamber, 5, and the separating-chamber 4 communicates by a lateral opening,governed by avalve orvalves, 6, with apist-on-chamber, 7, formed on the rear side of the compartment and extending downwardly thereon to or near the level of the partition 3. A sieve or screen, 8, extends across the compartment above the openings of the valves 6, and a series of slateopenings, 9, governed by valves 10, is formed in the front wall of the compartment, said openings establishing communication between the space above the sieve and a slate-compartment, 11, adjoining the front of the separating-box. The coal which is to be washed is supplied to each of the separating-chambers by a chute or feed channel, 22,having a hinged gate-board, 23, at bottom provided with regulatingarms 24, in order to cause the coal supplied to pass near the sieve 8 before reaching the delivery dam or bridge, as in my Letters Patent No. 198,432, dated December 18,1877.

The several slate-compartments are separated one from the other by vertical partitions 12, which areopen at bottom so as to provide thereat a chamber common to all the compartments 11, in which chamber a horizontal screw-conveyer, 13, is mounted in suitable bearings, and is adapted to,be rotated from the driving-shaft 14 of the machine bya belt, 15, passing around a pulley, 16, on the driving-shaft, and a pulley, 17, on the conveyer-shaft. Fast and loose pulleys 18 19 are mounted on the driving-shaft 14 for thereception of a belt from the shaft of any suitable prime mover. A delivery-dam or horizontal bridge-piece, 20, extends along the front of the separating-box above the slate-openings 9, the discharge of the washed coal being effected over the top of said dam into a coaldelivery compartment, 21, common to all the compartments of the separating-box, and extending longitudinally in front of the slatecompartments 11. An inclined partition ex tending from the top of the coal-delivery compartment at one end to or near the bottom at the opposite end, the position of which is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. serves to carry the washed coal delivered over the dam 20 from the several compartments of the sep arating-box to a point at the bottom of the compartment 21, whence it may be removed by an elevator or conveyer, or otherwise, as desired.

The sides of the separator-box are curvedinwardly at bottom, as shown in Fig. 1, to reduce the volume of the sedimcnt-chambersb to the proper limit, as well as to direct sediment that may pass into the chambers toward sediment-valves 25 in the bottoms thereof, through which the deposited matter may be discharged from time to time, as required, and the bottoms of the piston chambers 7 are curved upwardly toward the rear of the chambers, in substantial correspondence with the curvature of the partition 3, to enable the proper action of the water upon the coal resting on the sieves to be exerted with a less degree of power or a less weight of pistons than in former constructions.

The separating-box and piston-chambers rest upon and are supported by a series of stout cast-iron standards, 25, each of which has a broad bearing-face on its top formed by lateral flanges extending continuously from the front of the slate-chamber, beneath the same and an adjacent sediment-chamber and piston'cha-mbcr, to the rear of the latter, as shown in Figs. 1: and 2. The upwardly-curved members of the standards 25, which conform to the curvature of the rear sides of the sediment-chambers and bottoms of the pistonchambers, which fit closely against and are supported by them, are connected at their rear ends by vertical members with the continuous horizontal members. In the construction of the machine the planking of the bot toms of the slate, sediment, and piston chambers and rear sides of the sediment-chambers is first laid in place on the top flanges of the standards and properly secured thereto, the standards serving primarily to enable the separating and piston chambers to be formed and maintained in the desired shape in transverse section, and, further, to constitute the support. The standards 25 ot' the complete structure. are fixed upon suitable foundation-timbers, 26, and clear space is thus afforded below the box for access to the lower portions thereof and to the sediment-valves, and for the location of other members presently to be described.

XVater is supplied to the separator box through pipes 27, connected to the piston chambers 7, and is, as in my former construction, forced through the coal resting upon the sieves 8 by the movements of box-shaped pistons 28, fitting in the chambers 7. The pistons 28 are secured upon piston-rods 29, to which are connected cam-yokes 30 for the reception of cams 31, secured upon the drivingshaft 14, the cam-yokes being, as in Reissue No. 9,011, before referred to, composed of four legs or standards connected by end heads or sockets and located at such distance apart as to admit the cams 31 in one direction and the driving'shaft 14 in the other. The upper ends of the cam-yokes are secured to stems 32, fitting freely in fixed guides 33, and the yokes are connected adj ustably at their lower ends to the piston-rods 29 by couplings 34, which have the capacity of free rotation within the lower ends of the yokes, and are internally threaded to engage corresponding external threads on the upper ends of the piston-rods. A series of square projections, 35, having radial slots or recesses 36, is formed on the couplings 34, and by the application of a wrench or bar to saidprojections or slots, as the case may be, the position of the cam yokes may bead justed longitudinally so as to vary the stroke of the pistons within any desired range of the diameter of the cams, as the downward traverse of the pistons and rods is limited by buffers, hereinafter described.

To insure the true rectilineal movement of the piston-rods, as well as to preventthe escape of water from the piston-chambers, long guides 37, through which the piston-rods pass freely, are secured to the bottoms of the piston-chamhers, said guides having. stuttingboxes 38 on their outer ends-for the reception of packing, which is compressed therein by glands 39. The guides 37, in connection with the upper guides, 33, prevent wear and friction of the pistons against the linings of their-boxcsand correspondingly promote the durability and easy working of the machine.

In order to relieve the machine from injurious strain and wear due to the impact of the pistons, the same is transmitted directly to the foundation through a buffer, 40, fixed thereon, and which may be packed with any suitable yielding or elastic material, said buil'er receiving the shock of the piston and rod on their descent when released by the cam, and thereby relieving the cam-shaft and separatorbox from the repeated strains which would otherwise be induced upon them in operation. The requisite elasticity of the buffer is in this instance provided for by the employment of a pairof stiff helicalsprings, 41, located within the buffer and covered by a follower, 42, fitting freely therein, said follower acting as an abutment forashoe, 43, secured upon the lower end of the piston-rod by a key, 44, or otherwise, so as to be readily removed and replaced by another when worn or broken by continued use.

Theseparated impurities which pass through the openings 9 into the slate-compartments 11 are carried therefrom by the conveyerl3 into an elevator-casing, 44, located adjacent to one end of the separatonbox, and are thence dclivered to a chute orother desired avenue of discharge by a vertical elevator composed of a pair of endless chains, 45, carrying a series of elevator-buckets, 46, and passing around polygonal-faced sprocket-wheels47,fixed upon a shaft, 48, journaled in bearings adjacent to the bottom of the casing 44, and a pair of similar wheels, 49, secured upon a shaft, 50, mounted in bearings 51, above the top of the casing. The bearings 51 are fitted with the capacity of vertical adjustment in recesses formed in standards 52, secured upon the top of the casing 44, and may be adjusted therein to maintain the requisite degree of tightness of the chains byscrews 53, engaging female threads in the standards and abutting against the lower sides of the bearings 51. The elevator is actuated by a belt, 54, passing around a pulley, 55, on the upper elevator-shaft, 50, and around a pulley on the driving-shaft 14, (indicated in dottedlinesin Fig. 1.) Apair of inclined discharge-plates, 56, is secured between the sprocket-wheels 49 in such position relatively to the shaft 50 that in the rotation of the latter one of said plates will imme diately precede each of the buckets in its traverse around the shaft, and will thereby direct and deliver the material discharged from the buckets into a proper chute or receiver, and prevent it from falling back into the easing as the buckets successively change their direction of movement in the traverse of the chain.

It will be seen that by the construction above described the discharge of the separated impurities is continuously and automatically effected, and the possibility of their accumulation in the compartments 11, which might occur by carelessness of the attendant in the machine of prior constructions,is wholly prevented. The area of delivery through the openings 9 may be varied and accurately ad j usted, as required by the character of the material treated, by means of a lever, 57, secured to a shaft, 58, mounted in bearings on the top of the separator-box, said shaft carry ing arms 59, coupled by links 60 to the valves 10, and having a slotted arm, 61, through which the shaft may be fixed in positionto maintain any desired degree of opening of the valves 10 by a set-screw, 62, passing through the slot of the arm 61.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. In a coal-washing machine, the combination of a separator box or chest having a slateehamber on one of its sides and a piston chamber on the other, and a series of standards having horizontal members adapted to rest upon a suitable foundation and bearingsurfaces on their upper sides extending continuously beneath and fitting against the bottoms of the slate, sediment, and piston chambers and the side of the sediment-chamber which adjoins the piston-chamber, substantially as set forth.

2. In a coal-washing machine, the combination of a separator-box, a piston-chamber connected therewith, a piston fitting said chamber, a piston-rod secured to said piston, a stuffing'box located in the bottom of the chamber, through which said piston-rod passes, a

series of supporting-standards resting upon a foundation and having bearingsurfaces on their upper sides extending continuously beneath and fitting against the bottoms of the separator box and piston chamber, and a buffer fixed to a foundation below the pistonchamber in line with the piston-rod, substantially as set forth.

3. In a coal-washing machine, the combination of a separator-box,a lateral piston-chamber, a piston-rod carrying a piston fitting said chamber, a guide fitting the piston-rod above said chamber, a guide fitting the piston-rod and fixed in the bottom of the chamber, anda stuffing-box located at the outer end of said bottom guide, substantially as set forth.

4. In a coal-washing machine,the combination of a separator-box,a lateral piston-chamher, a piston fitting said chamber,a piston-rod secured to said piston and passing through the bottom of the chamber, a removable shoe connected to the lower end of the piston-rod, and a buffer fixed to a foundation below and in line with the rod, substantially as set forth.

5. In a coalwashing machine,the combination of a separator-box,a slate-chamber, a conveyer adapted to rotate adjacent to the bottom of the slate-chamber, an elevator casing communicating with the delivery end of the conveyer, an independent elevator working in said casing, and driving pulleys or gears for operating said elevator independently of the conveyer, substantially as set forth.

6. In a coal-washing machine,the combination of a separatorchamber, a slate-chamber, an elevator-easing communicating with the slate-chamber, an elevator working in said casing, and a series of discharge-plates fitted to rotate with the upper sprocket-wheels of the elevator, substantially as set forth.

7. In a coal-washing-machine,the combination of a piston-chamber, a piston fitting said chamber, a pistonrod secured to the piston and extending above and below the same, a lifting-yoke secured to the upper end of the piston-rod, a cam working said lifting-yoke, and a buffer fixed to a foundation below the piston-chamber and in line with. the pistonrod, substantiallyas set forth.

, 8. In a coal-washing-machine, the combination of a series of separating-chambers, a series of communicating'slatechambers .a conveyer common to the series of slate-chambers and adapted to rotate adjacent to the bottom thereof, an elevator-casing into which said conveyer discharges, an independent elevator working in said casing, and driving pulleys or gears for operating said elevator independently of the conveyer, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I havehereunto set my hand.

SEBASTIAN STUTZ. \Vitnesses:

J. SNOWDEN BELL, R. H. WHITTLEsEY. 

